Information-oriented employer's construction claim management

Abstract

The objective of this thesis was to develop a claim management system for the employers of construction projects in order to enhance their efficiency in managing construction claims. The proposed system focuses on management of the information necessary for managing construction claims in projects. The study was carried out by performing a claim data requirement analysis, surveying characteristics of claims and existing claim management systems by questionnaires and interviews, finding the level of importance of each claim data, analyzing the existing claim documentation systems, designing the proposed claim management system, performing case study analysis, and verifying the thesis results. It was found that there are 105 pieces of data necessary for managing employer's claims, which can be divided by their levels of importance and levels of availability into four groups. The proposed claim management system and the features, problems and recommendations for improving the existing employer's claim management systems were also reported. The proposed employer's claim management system was developed by adopting contractual procedures of Federation Internationale des Ingenieurs-Conseils (FIDIC), dispute resolution procedures of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and information system analysis and design techniques in managing the whole process of employer's claim management. The results from the case study show that the proposed model provides construction employers with complete and correct information for managing their construction claims.